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The Federal Government said on Friday it would trace the contacts of the first confirmed case of Coronavirus in the country.
The government has also deployed the Rapid Response Team (RRT) from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to support the Lagos State Government in monitoring the health of people that travelled with the patient to prevent further spread of the disease.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, had said on Thursday night that an Italian citizen who travelled to Lagos from Milan, had tested positive to COVID-19, thus becoming the first confirmed case of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, in a follow-up press briefing on Friday in Abuja, the minister assured Nigerians that the government was on top of the situation.
He said: “I am assuring Nigerians that all measures have been taken to contain and control the spread of the virus, it happened in Lagos, the state Commissioner of Health was the first person we were in touch with.
“I know the capability of Lagos State, the state has a lot of experience from the Ebola episode. So they will be able to handle the case. Also, we have sent a team from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to support the state.
“The relief is that the patient is not showing very serious symptoms and the other relief is that as far as statistics is concerned, 97 percent of the cases that have COVID-19 do recover.
“The terrible thing about it is that it spreads easily and people can get it without knowing.”
He blamed the reported case on the nature of the virus which may not present symptoms at that period of screening, stressing that it was not a result of a failure of surveillance at the airports.
The minister commended the Lagos State Government for its swift response as the patient was quickly referred to a reference laboratory under controlled transportation with a fully kitted driver.
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